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Trees of Life

The Great Tree of Life by Leonard Eisenberg

http://evogeneao.com/images/Evo_large.gif

"We are related not only to every living thing, but also to every thing that ever lived."

"The geologic time scale on the Great Tree of Life begins at the center bottom, at Earth's birth, more than four thousand million (4 billion) years ago. As you move away from this center point toward the outer margin of the tree, geologic time gets younger and younger, until at the outer curved edge of the tree you arrive at the present day. Times on the geologic time scale are shown at the base of the diagram in millions of years before present. These are traced through the tree of life along curved, dashed time lines. All points on a curved, dashed time line are of the same age. For example; any point on the dashed time line labeled '1000' represents a time 1000 million years (that's equal to one billion years) in the past. Similarly, any point on the outer margin of the tree represents time today. Any point on the tree of life can be placed in geologic time by using these curved time lines."

~Evolutionary Genealogy

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on January 10, 2013 at 8:53pm

Thank you Joan! Going to the site!

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on January 10, 2013 at 9:25pm

Termites build huge structures, they have no designer, no architect, no boss, only a bunch of bug building from instinct, I suppose, and creating spirals and mounds, and tombstone like structures.

Man builds large cathedrals to commemorate their belief and faith in god. They have a plan, an architect and a boss to make their idea come to life.

I visited Çatal Höyük in Turkey, a village built in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages and occupied from approximately 7500 B.C. to 5700 B.C. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date.

“The primordial deity for our Paleolithic and Neolithic ancestors was female, reflecting the sovereignty of motherhood. In fact, there are no images that have been found of a Father God throughout the prehistoric record. Paleolithic and Neolithic symbols and images cluster around a self-generating Goddess and her basic functions as Giver-of-Life, Wielder-of-Death, and as Regeneratrix.”

Marija Gimbutas, "The Language of the Goddess 1989/1991).

“The multiple categories, functions, and symbols used by prehistoric peoples to express the Great Mystery are all aspects of the unbroken unity of one deity, a Goddess who is ultimately Nature herself.”

Marija Gimbutas, "Civilization of the Goddess", (223).

Catal Huyuk - Çatalhöyük

"Catal Huyuk, often described as 'the world's oldest city', was made by the Hittites in central Anatolia. The city was built with the houses joined together. There were no windows or doors: access was from roof level. The city is surrounded by productive flat land which could have been used or agriculture or horticulture."

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on January 11, 2013 at 10:49pm

How interesting! I love this stuff! I enjoy learning. I learn a lot from you Joan.

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on January 11, 2013 at 11:48pm

Interesting! I'd have liked more close up diagrams of the interiors and zoomable diagram of the houses glommed together, showing the courts and the roofs with their entrance holes. Did they use ladders?

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on January 12, 2013 at 12:14am

Catal Huyuk images

Yes, they used ladders, much as pueblos of our southwest. In fact, they looked very much like the pueblos. There was no central shrine and each home had some kind of female statue at the hearth and according to Gimbutas, there were very few male figures.

"distinguishing feature of Çatalhöyük was the nature of the houses: they had no doors to the outside and were clearly entered through ladders from the roof, and the inhabitants buried their dead under the floors of their platforms."

~ Catal Huyuk History

Catal Huyuk restoration

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on January 10, 2013 at 9:35pm

Daniel Dennett - Multiversos Superstrings

The evolution of purposes.

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on January 11, 2013 at 10:49pm

Thanks for the Dennett link.

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on January 12, 2013 at 12:45am

Great lecture! Thanks Joan. Yes the intentional stance is anthropocentric. I hadn't thought of "for a reason" versus "having a reason" in that way. Lots of good insights.

Permalink Reply by Humble Pie on January 13, 2013 at 10:33am

That is a great distinction! I know that I will find places to use it in my daily life.

Permalink Reply by Idaho Spud on January 11, 2013 at 3:30pm

Interesting tree of life and explanation. He said he left-out most life that went extinct, he made it condensed, and from the viewpoint of humans in order to make it easier to basically understand. I think that's a good reason, and I like this tree of life, but I think it would be interesting to see one that shows everything, and in proportion.

Permalink Reply by Humble Pie on January 11, 2013 at 8:20pm

Proportion would be nice. The thing that struck me first and foremost was how crazy over-represented the branches that filter down to humanity are! Animals more than other kingdoms, vertebrates more than other animals, mammals more than other vertebrates, etc.

Permalink Reply by Humble Pie on January 11, 2013 at 8:20pm

I love how the graph has the date lines on it. Oxidation of the oceans and the Cambrian explosion seem to me to be the two most important points in the history of life, but so few people know about them.